Star group editor takes ANN chair

The Asia News Network held its annual board meeting in Kathmandu, Nepal on February 16-17, hosted by The Kathmandu Post and supported by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. The editors also attended a conference on “The Himalayan System in a Changing Climate: the Future and the Media’s Role”, at which environmental issues were discussed. At the conference, Nepali President Ram Baran Yadav delivered a keynote address, while Speaker Subas Nembang delivered the closing remarks. Both highlighted the media’s crucial role in raising climate-change issues with the public.

“Climate change threatens to unravel decades of development – displacing millions from their habitat, destroying their livelihoods and condemning many more to poverty. It also threatens to upend development objective, unless urgent measures are taken to adapt and mitigate the consequences of climate change,” said Akhilesh Upadhyay, chief editor of The Kathmandu Post.

The Star’s chief editor, Wong Chun Wai, 51, based in Kuala Lumpur, thanked the editors for their unanimous decision to elect him as ANN’s new chairman. He extended his vision to see ANN become more dynamic as Asia plays an increasing role in global affairs. 

“We need to take ANN to another platform. At present, we have been successful in editorial content sharing, but we need to look at a possible business model for ANN. There are many areas with revenue possibilities that we can explore.

“We should also consider introducing a CEO-level ANN meeting that will also include participation from business development and marketing directors of the various member countries.”

Wong Chun Wai said ANN has been recognised as a formidable media group in the region, and he believed that more can be achieved by ANN.

Asia News Network is the world’s most active newspaper alliance with 21 member newspapers in 18 countries. The alliance was founded in 1998 to provide avenues for cooperation among Asian press under the motto “We Know Asia Better”. The ANN members are: China Daily, China Post, Yomiuri Shimbun and Daily Yomiuri (Japan), The Island (Sri Lanka), The Korea Herald, The Statesman (India), The Straits Times (Singapore), The Nation (Thailand), Vietnam News, The Daily Star (Bangladesh), the Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Jakarta Post (Indonesia), The Star and Sin Chew Daily (Malaysia), The Kathmandu Post (Nepal), Vientiane Times (Laos), Rasmei Kampuchea (Cambodia), Brunei Times, Kuensel (Bhutan), and Dawn (Pakistan). Our website is www.asianewsnet.net.